Epson 3880 on Mac OSX 10.6

[Spaceman]

Hi,
I am having some issues printing using my Epson 3880 on a Mac running 10.6.6 and Photoshop CS2.

Having just upgraded my computer from 10.4 I'm having printing issues. I am getting colour inconsistencies and am unable to apply a Hahnnemuhle ICC profile to my images before printing without it ruining the colours.

I am aware of the issues surrounding OSX 10.6 and Epson and Photoshop CS4. I know CS3 users have had similar issues and I am not trying to create custom profiles for a particular paper.

Running OSX 10.4 I would open a file in Photoshop CS2, convert the sRGB file to the Hahnemuhle ICC profile, print choosing no colour management in both Photoshop's and the Printer dialog boxes. The print came out exactly as expected.
The same setting in 10.6 resulted in a slightly dark image.

I then read lots and lots of discussion forums, which pointed the finger at Apple for changing the Gamma from 1.8 to 2.2, others pointed the finger at Epson etc.

I have tried all sorts of combinations of print settings and the closest I can get to the original print that I was happy with, is following this method.
Open the sRGB file in Photoshop, convert to the Hanhemuhle profile, then convert again to Adobe RGB 1998 (sound's weird I know), then print with Photoshop manages colour, Printer profile (Adobe) and Printer dialog Colour Mode - Adobe RGB 1998. Gamma is also changed to 1.8

I know this isn't perfect. But if someone could shed light on why this method looks acceptable I'd love to hear from you. I think it is something to do with having an Adobe profiled image and printing with Adobe as the printer profile and colour mode. Does this avoid ColorSync ruining colours by converting to sRGB before sending data to the printer???

If I don't convert to Adobe in the above method and leave it as a Hahnemuhle profile the colours look may too dark.
Selecting no colour management in Epson printer dialog also gives be bad results.

Can anybody give me some advice on better printer setting strategies? Has anybody tried printing using this combination of operating system, printer and software??

Thanks for your help in advance.

ps. I am using the latest Epson printer driver 6.60

[JohnHeerema]

Did you run the Epson "common updater", which is on their driver page?

Also, you might want to decline Apple's updates to the Epson printer software (or if you accidentally installed it, uninstall, and start over with the Epson drivers).

Good luck!

[madmanchan]

I do not believe the older CS2/CS3's "No Color Management" works correctly anymore under 10.6, at least not with the 3880's 6.60 drivers.

[Scott Martin]

I'd recommend using Eric's "Null Transform" technique when printing profiling targets through any driver. IE: Assign AdobeRGB to the target and print with AdobeRGB as the printer profile using Relative Colorimetric *without* Black Point Compensation. That's the only full proof method these days...

[Spaceman]

Thanks for all your advice it is much appreciated. I've downloaded the latest Epson "common" update for 10.6.

I've also tried Eric's null technique, but I get heavily saturated images. As soon as I assign Adobe the colours go electric on screen and on print. This may be because I'm starting from sRGB rather than an untagged file?? Can you untag an already tagged file?

Removing the conversion to the Hahnemuhle ICC paper profile and just converting once to Adobe RGB produces similar acceptable results.

Is it not possible for me to use Hahnemuhle or other paper manufacturers' ICC profiles using CS2?

Would I have a similar issues printing from InDesign CS2?

ps. This forum rocks

[Scott Martin]

Eric's Null Transform trick is only for printing profiling targets. Once you have your profiles you can print images normally, selecting the printer profile in the print dialog. No need to assign or convert colors prior to printing.

[richardt]

Hi,

I am close to getting an Epson 3880 judging by plenty of good reviews, but being a MacOS 10.6 user myself, I need to know that former quality issues are resolved with the MacOS. On the Epson FAQ site, there was a reply from June 2010 concerning the "too dark output"-problem. Perhaps this will help:

Q:
My images print too dark when I print from Photoshop CS3 in Mac OS X v10.6.x (Snow Leopard). What should I do?
A:
Try the following:

Select Color Management/Output > Output from Photoshop's print screen.


Click Transfer and drag the middle of the curve to 40.0%.


Click OK, then select Color Management.


Choose Let Photoshop manage color as normal and the appropriate printer profile.


Try to print. Since every photo is different, you may need to experiment with the Transfer Curve to find the level that best suits your needs.

Note: Making changes to the Transfer Curve does not alter the original image. This curve affects the Shadows, Midtones and Highlights as a whole.

Regard,

Richard

[Scott Martin]

I am close to getting an Epson 3880 judging by plenty of good reviews, but being a MacOS 10.6 user myself, I need to know that former quality issues are resolved with the MacOS.

The 3880 works fantastically well for me on 10.6.6. No problems.

[Waltere]

Same as Onsight! Mine has been fantastic. My first "run" of prints for a show numbered about 24-I had one "reprint", it was a little dark!

[robb thurmond]

You've probably done this, but a fresh monitor profile is the first place to start. Without that you're sunk.

I had problems with my 3880 and my Mac until I downloaded the SnowLeopard driver (its labeled "SnowLeopard"). There are two drivers there and it wasn't clear to me which I needed, and I downloaded the wrong one.....it will still install AND print, but the options that are available in the print dialogue are quite different. I noticed it in the reds in a poster I was printing, which were not a bright as they should have been, my monitor is profiled and I print with canned (but great) MOAB profiles.

As soon as I changed the driver to the SnowLeopard flavored version, everything worked well again.